A lot happened in baseball this weekend: The Yankees' superstars had a blast in the Bay Area, the Brewers dominated the NL Central, the White Sox made some provocative statements off the field (but not so much on it), and the Mariners seemed serious about solving their hitting slump.
Here's what you need to know about the MLB weekend.
No team in MLB has more wins than the New York Yankees (42), as the Bronx Bombers rolled into San Francisco and stunned the Giants with a dominant performance from their superstars — baseball's equivalent of a merciless beating.
The series was marked by the story of Bay Area native Aaron Judge playing his first career game at Oracle Park after breaking the hearts of Giants fans with his free-agent spree (remember Aaron Judge?). The big man stole the show on Opening Day, smashing two big fly balls to help the Yankees win 6-2. But the next day was truly memorable.
In the top of the first inning on Saturday, Judge hit a supersonic monster shot of 464 feet off a Logan Webb changeup to give the Yankees another win.
San Francisco led by two going into the ninth inning on Sunday and had a chance to rally in the final innings. But the key was that the Yankees had Juan Soto. After Anthony Volpe's triple put them within one, Soto smashed a sharp fastball from Camilo Doval into the right field stands to give them a one-run lead. It was a weekend of Murphy's Law for the Giants and their fans.
The Yankees play nine games on their California tour (7-2) before returning home for a series against their all-time punching bag team, the Minnesota Twins.
Brewers take advantage of struggling Cubs, sweep woeful White Sox
Milwaukee got the job done against the woeful White Sox in the first of three sweeps over the weekend. After giving up 23 hits in the opener, the Brewers beat the White Sox behind solid pitching in the final two games from rookie Robert Gasser, ace Freddy Peralta and a solid relief corps. The win marked Milwaukee's fifth straight victory, and combined with the Cubs' recent steep decline, the Brewers have a solid seven-game lead atop the NL Central division.
Rhys Hoskins' return from injury just a few days ago will further boost the Brewers' booming offense as Milwaukee travels to Philadelphia this week for an exciting showdown between two of the circuit's best teams.
Meanwhile, the White Sox are a disaster, disaster, disaster-ridden disaster. They have currently lost 11 straight baseball games and are by far the worst team in MLB. At 15-45, Chicago is on pace to finish the season with 40 wins, which would tie them with the 1962 New York Mets for the worst winning percentage in MLB's expansion era.
Things got especially bizarre on Sunday when fearless veteran outfielder Tommy Pham tried to confront Brewers catcher William Contreras after a play at home plate. The mood on the field was relatively light-hearted, but the 36-year-old Pham, who is almost certainly a trade target for the Red Sox, upped the ante when he mentioned his offseason martial arts regimen during his postgame media availability.
The 2024 White Sox will be a special experience.
“There's a reason I do all kinds of martial arts in the off-season, because I'm prepared to knock somebody out.” – Tommy Pham pic.twitter.com/REBPGPj5BX
— CHGO White Sox (@CHGO_WhiteSox) June 2, 2024
The Orioles are expected to be active on the trade market after losing two big-name pitchers.
Baltimore general manager Mike Elias announced Friday afternoon that two of the team's pitchers, John Means and Tyler Wells, will undergo surgery for torn UCLs. It's a particular blow to Means, who struggled to return from Tommy John surgery in May 2022. Wells was Baltimore's starter early in the season but will likely be moved to the bullpen later in the summer. This double whammy makes it more likely that Elias will be aggressive at the trade deadline.
In the short term, Baltimore needs to move forward with the 13 best pitchers already in the organization. That task began on Friday with a strong start against Tampa, when 36-year-old veteran pitcher Albert Suarez pitched five innings to help lead the team to a 9-5 victory on Saturday, surrendering four extra-base hits, before the Rays came from behind to win Sunday.
It's no surprise that Baltimore is really good at hitting, but how the Orioles assemble a solid but not overwhelming pitching staff in the face of recent injuries will be crucial to their long-term success. It's good to see Craig Kimbrel on a roll again. The future Hall of Famer has stabilized the team with eight shutout games after a very shaky start in May.
Will firing the Mariners' hitting coordinator improve the offense's situation?
It was a strange weekend in the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle swept the hapless Angels because the Mariners' starting pitchers didn't allow a single run in 20 innings. That's just how the Mariners do it. This starting rotation is dynamite and could be a historically good starting rotation when it's all said and done.
Brian Woo, who continues to be under a severe pitching restriction, pitched well on Friday. Bryce Miller, a lanky Texas pitcher with a fiery delivery, struck out nine Halos on Saturday. The ever-dependable Luis Castillo retired seven batters scoreless on Sunday. It was a mediocre game for the Mariners.
Seattle is great on the mound but terrible at the plate. The Mariners' poor offense is masked by their terrible AL West division, but this team's hitting is downright painful to watch. The Mariners' struggles culminated on Friday afternoon with the firing of the team's “offensive coordinator,” Brant Brown.
Braun joined the Mariners during the offseason and worked to eliminate strikeouts and improve batting average, but after two months the team was batting .223, which is not what a good team does.
It's unusual for a first-year coach to be fired just two months into the job, so keep an eye on Seattle's offense to see if any meaningful changes are made.
Tigers tie with Red Sox, demote No. 1 draft pick Spencer Torkelson to Triple-A
Detroit has been teetering around in a surprisingly competitive AL Central division lately — Kansas City and Cleveland are having great seasons and Minnesota is back on track after a rollercoaster season — but the Tigers, who trailed in four games at Fenway and are one game below .500, are the epitome of mediocrity. Not good, not terrible, just plain mediocre.
While there were certainly upsides with Jack Flaherty being sensational again and leadoff man Matt Beerling in top form, Detroit made a key trade on Sunday that showed things are far from smooth sailing in the Motor City. Spencer Torkelson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft and the man seen as the savior of Tigers baseball, was demoted to Triple-A after a disappointing .597 OPS to start the season.
Detroit's rebuild, like any team's, hinges on stars blossoming, and the only clear success in that regard has been the emergence of starting pitcher Tarik Skubal.
Torkelson was meant to fill that role in Detroit's lineup, but his demotion to the minor leagues was an admission that the big first baseman needed a reset. It's tough to be the face of the franchise in Toledo.
